Executive Board

Lara Aref,  President

I am a PhD research fellow at Department of Education at University of Oslo, particularly interested in the field of teaching and learning in higher education. I first joined UiODoc in 2025, partly because I wanted to serve as a strong representative for temporary staff at institutional level. In my role as president, one of my main priorities will be to gain more in-depth insight of our members’ experiences at the university and work towards improving their working conditions.

Zeenat Fatima Chatha, Vice President

I am a PhD candidate at Oslo University Hospital and the University of Oslo, working in pharmacoepidemiology and women's health. My research focuses on the use of menopausal hormone therapy and cancer risk using nationwide Norwegian health registries.

I am honored to serve as the Vice President of UiODoc. In this role, I aim to represent and advocate for the interests of PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers, promote an inclusive and supportive research environment, and contribute to strengthening academic and professional development opportunities for early-career researchers. I look forward to working with colleagues across the university to support a vibrant and engaged research community.

Magnus Thøgersen, Treasurer 

I am a Ph.D.-student with the Department of Physics at the University of Oslo (UiO), speicalizing in high-energy particle physics. Specifically my work centers around analysis the data acquired at the CERN-experiment known as ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment). The purpose of my analysis is to find signs of rare and exotic particles generated in the collisions of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and using these signs, describe their various properties.

Working towards your Ph.D. or being a postdoc is demanding work, and one can sometimes feel scared or overwhelmed by it all, especially if you are not familiar with Oslo or Norway in general. As such, it is important to know that you have someone that you can turn to and can represent you and your interests. I have previously served as representation officer within UiODoc, which was a rewarding experience, but now as treasurer I turn my attention to the finances of our organization. In this role I strive to uphold a financial responsibility that ensures that we can live up to our duties as an organization while providing you with useful events as well as representation across the university.

Pooja Devi, Event Officer

I am working as a Postdoc in the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics (ITA), University of Oslo. I did my PhD from Nainital, India in Solar Physics, and started Postdoc at ITA in September 2025. I came across this fantastic organisation UiO Doc through a friend. As UiODoC plays a vital role in promoting the acedemic, professional, and social inetrest of PhD students and employees of UiO, I found it very interesting to be a part of this organisation. I am honoured to be a part of UiOdoc as an event officer.

Reetika Joshi, Event officer

Dr. Reetika Joshi is a researcher at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo. Her research focuses on solar flares, using multi-instrument observations from both space- and ground-based telescopes to better understand solar activity. She served as a representative officer for UiO Doc from 2022 to 2024, where she worked to promote and represent members’ interests at multiple levels, including ISMO and various faculty committees. She is strongly committed to advocating for issues affecting early-career researchers, including PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and other temporary employees at UiO. In the new board (2026-2027), she has taken on the role of Event Officer. In this position, with the team she will be responsible for organizing a range of social and community-building activities on behalf of UiO Doc for its members. These activities include breakfast clubs, general assembly meetings, and other events aimed at strengthening engagement and connection within the community.

Tianfang Yang, PR Officer

Hi there! My name is Tianfang Yang and it’s been a pleasure to serve as your friendly neighborhood PR officer at UiODoc last academic year! I’m from Tianjin, China and have spent time studying and working in Illinois, Oregon, Virginia (USA), Cork(Ireland), Beijing (China, not far from my hometown) until moving to Oslo last year. Currently, I’m a PhD at UiO Psychology researching personality disorders and mental health. I love reading, watching random Hong Kong movies from the 90s, and spending time in the gym in my spare time.

Karl Henrik Storhaug Reinås​​​​​​, PR Officer

I am a PhD student at the Department of Education, where I study the interaction and communication among patients and health care professional's and how this can be used as resources to promote the patients and health care professional's health literacy. Besides my studies, I have earlier taken actively part in the student's politics and likes to socialize with fellow peers. When I heared of UiODoc, I saw the chance to continue my engagement and try to improve the conditions for the temporary staff a little better day by day. I began as a representative officer in UiODoc 2023/2024, before I stepped into the president position in 2024/2025. From the annual general meeting in 2025, I was elected as a PR Officer and I am happy that I were able to continue as PR Officer also for the 2026/2027 board. My goal is to make UiODoc even more visible among our target group, than we are today. In my sparetime, I am interested in politics, so I watch the news show, Dagsrevyen, and listen to the radio debate program, Dagnytt 18, everyday. I also enjoy singing to pop lyrics and swim both indoors and outdoors.

Naheeda Hamza, Representation officer

I am a PhD Fellow at the Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, and a member of Women in Global Health Norway. My PhD project focuses on integrating responsible Open Science within the One Health framework in South Asia. Through this work, I aim to equip One Health researchers and policymakers with the tools and strategies needed to adopt open data-sharing practices that promote sustainable social development.

In addition, I serve as the EuroDoc Liaison Officer for Stipendiatorganisasjonene i Norge (SiN), representing the interests of doctoral candidates and early-career researchers at the European level.

Previously, I served as Vice President of the UiODoc Board, a role that provided a valuable opportunity to support and advocate for my fellow PhD candidates and temporary academic staff. I now look forward to my new role as Representative Officer, which offers an even greater platform to work closely with the University of Oslo, PhD candidates, and temporary researchers, and to contribute to strengthening their academic and professional environment.

 Lina Suhaib Hamid El Rasheed, Representation Officer 

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Clinical Medicine, where I study long-term cognitive function, such as memory and concentration, following COVID-19 infection. I use data from a large Norwegian pandemic cohort to track how these change over time, and what factors put people at greater risk of persistent difficulties. I joined UiODoc because I believe temporary staff deserve a strong voice at institutional level, and I want to help make that happen. Working at the Permanent Mission of Norway in Geneva as part of the Global Health Team taught me how much it matters to have people who advocate for those not always heard in the room. Mental health among Ph.D.s and postdocs is important, and truly supporting temporary staff starts with understanding what they are going through. Outside of research, I enjoy travelling, reading, and keeping up with global health and politics.